1989 peterbilt 379 no start

Did you try to prime it useing the hand pump that you unscrew an pump by hand at fuel filter, Take fuel caps off tank and shine strong light in an see if you can see bottom of tanks, take off fuel filters and dump whats in them into a clear gal. jug then wait to see how much water,dirt is on the bottom, you need new filter an poss. to drain bad fuel out of tanks,

 

You said when you turn on the key the guages don't cycle. I have a 98.....had the same problem. There is a fuse in the panel labeled UNSW accessories or something to that effect. If the fuse is good....pull it out and see what it does. If the fuse is bad, replace it.

 

Is an '89 even going to cycle the gauges? Most that far back have the gauges reading directly off the sensor, and wouldn't cycle with key on.

 

Hammer is right the gauges won't cycle. If it started and died that means the electronic kill solenoid is probably working. As far as priming it pump the hand pump till it's so hard you can't pump it anymore. It sounds like it sat long enough to either get an air pocket or like baha said condensation has got the best of it. I have pulled filters and they were pure water.

 

The air buzzer is probably a seperate problem. When all the air is out of a B model the hand pump is hard. It is possible that the check valve in bottom of hand pump is stuck. Take a 3/4 wrench and crack a couple lines on top the fuel pump then wirl it over. You should get a heavy squirt out of each plunger each time it compresses. Cracking 3 is how we bleed the air out of them if they don't have a hand pump.

 

So the primary filter is completely unhooked and your depending on a water seperator. I wouldn't do that long